Christmas Markets are a staple to the Christmas experience. Usually starting in November and ending in January, people flood the streets in festive cheer. Stalls filled with Christmas themed gifts – from socks to Christmas decorations – on sale. Rides that people line up to experience (despite them being overpriced). Mulled wine for the adults and hot chocolate for the kids.
The ice rinks shouldn’t be forgotten, especially with Edinburgh’s Christmas Market and Glasgow’s Christmas Market.
These Christmas markets wouldn’t be complete without the cold weather and occasional snow – the one time I went to the Christmas market this year, my bus broke down from the snow fall (that didn’t stop me, I still went to the Christmas market with my friends).
When I was younger, and still living in South Africa, I didn’t have this experience with Christmas Markets.
Christmas is during the summer season in South Africa, which gives you a different experience than the snow-filled festive Christmas Markets in Scotland.
I remember being jealous of Christmas movies and TV show Christmas specials, because the experience wasn’t Christmassy in South Africa. No snow. No hot chocolates (unless you enjoy having hot chocolate in summer). No Christmas Markets – well, at least not like the Christmas Markets in winter wonderland countries like Scotland.
My family would go to malls (shopping centres) for Christmas and all there would be Christmas decorations, Santa meeting children, and the fake snow machine.
The fake snow machine was a staple of my childhood – spending money to go inside a globe like room for half an hour to have fake snow blown at you.
It was the closest thing I got to real snow when living in South Africa.
It was nothing like the real thing.
The biggest culture shock when moving to Scotland was that snow was wet. Fake snow was never wet. I expected real snow to be like fake snow (I wasn’t the smartest person as a kid).
I came to Scotland with high expectations for the experience of Christmas Markets, especially the snow aspect of it. I was disappointed with the snow – I would never get over the fact that snow is wet.
However, Christmas Markets exceeded my expectations. I didn’t know there were rides at Christmas Markets until I moved here – nothing better than paying £10+ to be thrown around in a machine while the cold wind blows in your face.
Other than that, I love the experience of going from stall to stall looking for gifts for loved ones and eating food. The best we got in South Africa to compare to these Christmas markets, were flea markets.
And those weren’t special since they were year-round.
Christmas Markets are special as it brings people together in the festive cheer for Christmas.
And I think that’s the biggest culture shock of Christmas Markets in Scotland was for me. It wasn’t the snow, the rides, or even the prices (even though the prices are still shocking). It was the festivity that filled the air during Christmastime, especially at Christmas Markets. Not that South Africa didn’t have festive cheer, but it wasn’t anything like Scotland for me.
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